Telework at issue as USDA workers told to go back to office

The Trump administration may be entering a protracted fight with federal employees over telework as it tries to force workers to return to the office at USDA and other departments and agencies. 

Acting Secretary of Agriculture Gary Washington is requiring a phased-in approach to in-office work, and President Donald Trump issued a memo saying he wouldn’t honor recently signed collective bargaining agreements, or CBAs.

“It is the policy of the executive branch that CBAs executed in the 30 days prior to the inauguration of a new President, and that purport to remain in effect despite the inauguration of a new President and administration, shall not be approved,” Trump said in a Jan. 31 memo.

That prompted the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union for federal workers, to say the administration “is violating the law by encouraging agencies to ignore [CBAs] in a backwards push to eliminate hybrid work schedules across government.”

“Union contracts are enforceable by law, and the president does not have the authority to make unilateral changes to those agreements,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a news release. “AFGE members will not be intimidated. If our contracts are violated, we will aggressively defend them.”

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa The Office of Personnel Management doubled down on Monday, with Acting Director Charles Ezell telling agency heads in a memo, “Any provisions that require agencies to provide minimum telework levels, or prevent agencies from setting maximum telework levels, are likely unlawful” under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations law.

“The same applies to any provisions that require agencies to authorize telework for specific positions.”

“AFGE will not let the lawless actions of this administration or any agency go unchallenged, and we will use every option available to us to defend our contracts and support the hardworking civil servants who serve our country with honor and distinction,” Kelley said in response. 

In-office work has received considerable attention from Congress. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, in particular singled out USDA for criticism at a hearing a year ago, where she cited an unidentified employee who had written her office and called the headquarters a “ghost town.”

Then-Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack disputed that characterization, as well as Ernst’s claim that the utilization rate of headquarters offices was 11%.

Asked about a message on Reddit that expressed concern about whether there would be enough office space to accommodate returning workers, USDA spokesperson Audra Weeks said — in reference to the department’s South Building, across the street from the Whitten building — that "there were approximately 3,600 USDA employees in the office during business hours on average in January 2020 versus 1,050 employees in the building on Jan. 28.

“The USDA South Building currently has seats for approximately 6,000 employees. With overall base dimensions of 458’ x 944’, the building has 4,500 rooms, seven miles of corridors, 12 million bricks, and 11,000 miles of structural steel.”

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The Reddit message said of USDA, “The goal is everyone in the building regardless of space and bandwidth constraints for networks. Some have been told that if there isn’t room they should tell employees to go and sit at conference tables.”

Acting Secretary Washington directed “all senior leaders,” including members of the senior executive service, to report to duty stations full time by Feb. 3. In addition, he said, “managers and supervisors with assigned duty stations and a desk at a USDA office or facility anywhere in the nation will report to the office full time by Feb. 10."

Teleworking employees in the national capital region who aren’t subject to a CBA have to go back to work Feb. 18, Washington said. “Further details” are coming for those covered by CBAs.

Acting Ag Secretary Gary Washington

Washington also rescinded a 2021 departmental regulation issued by Vilsack that allowed telework up to eight days per biweekly pay period “based on the duties of the position."

The Vilsack regulation said, “A teleworker’s official duty station will remain unchanged if they report physically to their employing office worksite location for 2 full workdays or a combination of workday and some form of personal leave each biweekly pay period on a regular and recurring basis.”

“Effective use of telework and remote work enables USDA to recruit and retain a diverse workforce,” the regulation said. “Telework and remote work also may result in tangible savings in terms of reduced real estate and physical space demands, utilities, and transit subsidy costs.”

About 15,000 of the department's 100,000 employees are in the national capital region.

The Government Accountability Office in November said telework hours in the Farm Service Agency were between 6% and 11% of total work hours from April 2022 through March 2024. Most of FSA's more than 3,000 employees are in county offices where they see constituents.

“Despite the availability of telework, most FSA employees worked in-person at an agency office location,” GAO said. “For example, a breakdown of FSA employees teleworking at various frequencies during a March 2024 pay period showed that over 80 percent of FSA staff did not telework.”

In other USDA news, the department’s Office of Communications emphasized to public affairs officers that they should “NOT DELETE” climate change content but should “archive or unpublish” such information.

The clarification came Jan. 31, the day after an email from OC requiring public affairs directors to review their climate-related content.

In response to questions raised by that email, OC said, “USDA needs to adhere to requirements around records retention, so archive or unpublish landing pages focused on climate change.”

The officials also were told to document links reviewed, along with the agency’s recommendation for whether the content should continue to be posted.

USDA did not respond to requests for comment on why it took the action, but during Trump’s first term from 2017-2021, similar content reviews took place, although USDA maintained its climate-related information.